Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness: The Radical Wisdom of Jodo

Enter the mind of Jodo and follow his initiatory saga from Zen disciple to revolutionary filmmaker to spiritual teacher

• Explores the sacred trickery of shamans he encountered, including Carlos Castaneda, and how intention and action matter more than notions of “true” and “false”

• Explains the Way of Kindness and how small acts of generosity and goodness can have a profound effect on your spirit, infusing life with a wealth of happiness

• Includes contributions from friends and students of Jodorowsky on their experiences with him, including his son Adan Jodorowsky

Known for his surrealist films, his unique approach to tarot, his symbolic comics, and his shamanic therapeutic method of psychomagic, Alejandro Jodorowsky has accomplished an extraordinary amount in his more than 80 years. In this book, we get an intimate look into the inner workings of the cult figure of Jodo. What is revealed is a man who has evolved since his groundbreaking films of the 1970s, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, a man who has grown from a sacred trickster, a shaman of psychomagic, into a brilliant spiritual maverick of the 21st century. We get to see Jodo’s own reflections on the rich tapestry of his remarkable life, including the initiatory failure of the Dune film project, which combined the talents of a multitude of creative greats, including Moebius, Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger, and H. R. Giger. We learn about Jodo’s years with Marcel Marceau and with great masters such as Ejo Takata, whose Zen training featured strenuous physical and mental ordeals; the sorceress Pachita, who performed psychic surgery on Jodo; and the mysterious Carlos Castaneda, whose sacred trickery reveals how intentions matter more than notions of “true” and “false.”

Discussing the Way of Kindness that he now follows, Jodo reveals how intentionally practicing small acts of generosity and goodness can have a profound effect on your spirit, infusing life with a wealth of happiness.

From sacred trickery to the path of kindness, Jodo’s radical wisdom discerns the timeless within the immediate and gauges the everyday by the measure of eternity.

“" Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness is a fascinating and frustrating view into the life and self-presentation of a curious figure. Fans of Alejandro Jodorowsky will undoubtedly find it enjoyable..."”

“In this collection of interviews spanning 15 years, readers are confronted not just by Jodorowsky and the many hats he has worn, but by a man that is perhaps most defined by his dedication to the "path of goodness." Farcet includes a number of interviews with people whose lives have been profoundly affected by him. Perhaps interest in this book will begin with cinephiles, but it would be unfortunate if it did not find a much wider audience.” Publishers Weekly, February 2016
“No one alive today, anywhere, has been able to demonstrate the sheer possibilities of artistic invention--and in so many disciplines--as powerfully as Alejandro Jodorowsky.” NPR Books
“Alejandro Jodorowsky is a demiurge and an interpreter of our stories, always exploring further the understanding of both the beauty and complexity revealed by humankind.” Diana Widmaier Picasso, art historian
“Jodorowsky is a brilliant, wise, gentle, and cunning wizard with tremendous depth of imagination and crystalline insight into the human condition.” Daniel Pinchbeck, author of Breaking Open the Head
“Alejandro Jodorowsky seamlessly and effortlessly weaves together the worlds of art, the confined social structure, and things we can only touch with an open heart and mind.” Erykah Badu, artist and alchemist
“One of the most inspiring artists of our time. . . . A prophet of creativity.” Kanye West, recording artist
“The Dance of Reality begs to be read as a culminating work. . . .” Los Angeles Times
“The Dance of Reality [film] is a trippy but big-hearted reimagining of the young Alejandro’s unhappy childhood in a Chilean town. . . .” New York Times Magazine
“Manual of Psychomagic is great . . . like a cookbook of very useful recipes that can help us to understand our life and the universe we live in.” Marina AbramoviÄ?, performance artist
“His films El Topo and The Holy Mountain were trippy, perverse, and blasphemous.” Wall Street Journal
“The best movie director ever!” Marilyn Manson, musician, actor, and multimedia artist
“…Jodorowsky reveals how intentionally practicing small acts of generosity and goodness can have a profound effect on your spirit, infusing life with a wealth of happiness. Jodo’s radical wisdom discerns the timeless within the immediate and gauges the everyday by the measure of eternity.” Common Ground, Sarah Cirillo, May 2016
“Sacred Trickery and the Way of Kindness is a fascinating and frustrating view into the life and self-presentation of a curious figure. Fans of Alejandro Jodorowsky will undoubtedly find it enjoyable…” Spiral Nature, Nico Mara-McKay, July 2016

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a filmmaker who made the legendary cult films El Topo and The Holy Mountain. His most recent film, The Dance of Reality, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Psychomagic, The Way of Tarot, and Metagenealogy. He lives in Paris. Gilles Farcet is a journalist, musician, translator, and author of several books in French. A student of the late spiritual teacher Arnaud Desjardins, he lives in Paris.

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